{"id":3169,"date":"2014-03-02T06:24:48","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T06:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=3169"},"modified":"2014-03-02T06:24:48","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T06:24:48","slug":"worlds-longest-aircraft-is-unveiled-in-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=3169","title":{"rendered":"World’s longest aircraft is unveiled in UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"long<\/a>The world’s longest aircraft has just been unveiled in Britain’s biggest aircraft hangar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At first, you might mistake it for a giant airship – gas-filled balloon on top, pod slung underneath.<\/p>\n

But the unique, aerodynamic shape of the balloon – it looks as if a series of cigars have been sewn together – means it can also generate lift just like an aeroplane wing.<\/p>\n

That is key, because it enables the designers to make the machine heavier than air, which cuts the need to have dozens of crew<\/a> hanging on to ropes holding it down every time you land.<\/p>\n

In fact, you can land it via remote control with no-one on board at all if you like. And on water if needs be.<\/p>\n

Let me put it into perspective for you.<\/p>\n

This thing is two-and-a-half times longer than the distance covered by the Wright brothers’ first powered flight.<\/p>\n

With a length of 302ft (92m) the new airship is about 60ft longer than the biggest airliners, the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8.<\/p>\n

It is also almost 30ft longer than the massive cargo-carrying Antonov An-225, which until now was the longest aircraft ever built.<\/p>\n

Government funding<\/strong><\/p>\n

It costs about $100m (\u00a360m) and the designers are planning an even bigger version that will eventually be able to carry 50 tonnes at a time.
\nThe company developing it has now received \u00a32.5m of government funding to develop the technology and engineering for the project.<\/p>\n

“We are jointly funding \u00a32bn of research and development into the next generation of quieter, more energy efficient and environmentally friendly planes,” says Business Secretary Vince Cable.<\/p>\n

“That includes backing projects like Hybrid Air Vehicles’ innovative low carbon aircraft which can keep us at the cutting edge of new technology.
\n“Here is a British SME that has the potential to lead the world in its field.”<\/p>\n

‘We’ll fly over the Amazon’<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of which will be welcome news to one of the project’s high-profile investors, Bruce Dickinson.<\/p>\n

He is one of those people who can’t stop achieving stuff.<\/p>\n

As if being the lead singer of one of the world’s most successful and enduring rock bands, Iron Maiden, was not enough, he is also an airline pilot, businessman, and is investing in this project.<\/p>\n

“It’s a game changer, in terms of things we can have in the air and things we can do,” he says.<\/p>\n

“The airship has always been with us, it’s just been waiting for the technology to catch up.”<\/p>\n

He wants to sell them and he’ll be very good at it. As we chat in the hangar, he goes through its credentials.<\/p>\n

It is 70% greener than a cargo plane, he says. It doesn’t need a runway, just two crew. And it can plonk 50 tonnes anywhere in the world you like, which is 50 times more than a helicopter.<\/p>\n

He wants to drum up publicity with the kind of trip Richard Branson would dream up. A non-stop flight around the world – twice.<\/p>\n

“It seizes my imagination. I want to get in this thing and fly it pole to pole,” he says.<\/p>\n

“We’ll fly over the Amazon at 20ft, over some of the world’s greatest cities and stream the whole thing on the internet.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source:BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world’s longest aircraft has just been unveiled in Britain’s biggest aircraft hangar. At first, you might mistake it for a giant airship – gas-filled balloon on top, pod slung underneath. But the unique, aerodynamic shape of the balloon – it looks as if a series of cigars have been sewn together – means it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-3169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-akwasi-osei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}